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NOAA Launches Smart Buoy at Gooses Reef

On Tuesday, July 27 with calm seas,  the Maryland Department of Natural Resources buoy tender M/V John C. Widener placed NOAA’s latest Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy in 37’ of water at the Gooses Reef site near buoy 78 in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay.

This Gooses Buoy is the ninth in the Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System (CBIBS). It was funded by the Dominion Resources Foundation through the Coastal Conservation/Maryland and the Maryland Artificial Reef Initiative (MARI), which first placed barge loads of crushed concrete from the Woodrow Wilson Bridge there to make a man-made reef. Since the placement of concrete, the Oyster Recovery Partnership has seeded it with oyster spat; now it should become a productive fishing reef for all.

The big yellow buoy is known as a “Smart Buoy,” as it should be at a cost of over $200,000. It provides information for a lot of different audiences who have varying requirements. First is safety of the mariners, because it provides near-real-time observations on the weather and water conditions found at that site off the Little Choptank River. Its location is 38.33.375 N/ 076.24.882 W for you boaters who want to see it. Mariners can call it up by cell phone anytime at (877) BUOY-BAY or (877) 286-9229. You can get the wind direction, speed, gusts, wave height, water temperature, current strength, and its direction for starters. Need more, using a computer?  How about a history graph of past conditions: Is water quality getting better or worse? If it is really hot, humidity is high, and there is no wind, what effects will it have on my crew? If the water temperature is freezing cold, should we wear fleece, gloves, and raingear? Check it all out at by clicking here.

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